Who are all the characters in Jacques Louis David's painting 'The Death of Socrates'?

Answer 1

Persons on David's paintingLeft background: Xanthippe, Socrates' wife, lifting her right hand and bidding a last farewell to her husband before leaving the jail on his demand.

Foreground left: Plato musing and mourning, recognizable by scroll, inkpot and pen on the ground beside him. In reality he was not present during the last day of his beloved master because of a (pretended?) illness. Moreover his appearance is not appropriate to his real age: he was 29 at that time. Probably David wanted him to represent the ideal type of a philosopher.

The executioner is turning away his face reddened with shame, while he is handing over the cup of hemlock to Socrates.

Socrates himself seems to be speaking about the immortality of soul pointing above with the index-finger of his left hand to the upper regions where the souls of the morally good are supposed to reside. Notice his body that seems to be far too energetic and juvenile considering his age of seventy. David wants him to represent the youthful strength and zeal and fearlessness of the republican movement on the eve of the French Revolution (the painting was produced in 1787). Notice also the chain on the ground in front of Socrates. As Plato doesn't mention anywhere the fact of Socrates being fettered in prison, tjis feature has been added by the painter who wanted to instigate his fellow citizens to break up the chains and to strive for unchained liberty by removing the ancient regime of aristocracy.

In front of Socrates we see Crito, affectionately grasping the leg of his old friend. He had meticulously planned Socrates' escape from the jail - but in vain. Socrates rejected the idea and insisted on abiding by the laws.

The people on the right cannot be identified by name, as far as I know. According to Plato's dialogue "Phaedo" there were about twenty people in the jail.

Correction: the dialogue states in the opening few lines that Socrates had been in chains.

"For the Eleven," he said, "are now with Socrates; they are taking off his chains, and giving orders that he is to die to-day." He soon returned and said that we might come in. On entering we found Socrates just released from chains . . . .